Unable to login after a username change

**sunreaver** · December 31st, 2020

Hi all,

I changed my username as follows:
1. Created 'temporary':

Code:

sudo adduser temporary

2. Added it to sudo group:

Code:

sudo adduser temporary sudo

3.Changed oldUsername to a new:

Code:

sudo usermod -d newUsername oldUsername

4.Changed home folder:

Code:

sudo usermod -d newHomeDir -m newUsername

After I restarted the machine and:
- my newUsername doesn't appear on the login screen
- oldUsername is on the login screen, and it doesn't accept my password
- I can login only to the temporary user
- when I list users with

Code:

cat /etc/passwd

I get:

Code:

temporary:x:1001:1001:,,,:/home/temporary:/bin/bash

Code:

newUsername:x:1000:1000:oldUsername,,,:/home/newUsername:/bin/bash

What should I do to fix this?

Thanks!

**yancek** · December 31st, 2020

Your command to add the user temporary to sudo group doesn't look right. Take a look at the instructions at the link below. When you created the new user temporary, you should have been prompted to create a password for that user, were you and did you?

https://phoenixnap.com/kb/how-to-cre...user-on-ubuntu

**sunreaver** · December 31st, 2020

Thank you. I forgot to mention that, I created the password for 'temporary', and I have no problem with this user.

My problem is that I cannot login to the user that I was renaming.

I guess the issue is that I have 'oldUsernane' in here

Code:

newUsername:x:1000:1000:oldUsername,,,:/home/newUsername:/bin/bash

but I don't know how to get rid of it.

So if my 'oldUsernane' was 'john' and the new name 'david', now this line in

Code:

cat /etc/passwd

looks like this

Code:

david:x:1000:1000:john,,,:/home/david:/bin/bash

**TheFu** · January 1st, 2021

check the group membership.

**sunreaver** · January 1st, 2021

There's no group or user with my old name. I logged as root and if I check with cat /etc/passwd, I have 2 users: the renamed one 'david' and 'temporary', but when I check root home directory, I have 'john' and 'temporary'. I think at this point I'll just reinstall Ubuntu.

**TheFu** · January 1st, 2021

Originally Posted by sunreaver

There's no group or user with my old name. I logged as root and if I check with cat /etc/passwd, I have 2 users: the renamed one 'david' and 'temporary', but when I check root home directory, I have 'john' and 'temporary'. I think at this point I'll just reinstall Ubuntu.

Why? I never use usermod. Just edit the passwd and group files directly, with their shadow files too. They aren't complex. The fields are clearly spelled out in the manpages for each file. They only need to be consistent. I find changing a userid quick and trivial this way. Make the edits quickly, so that sudo checks don't prevent changes.

You can always boot off Ubuntu Install / Try Ubuntu, mount the storage/partition with /etc/ and edit the files if too slow. Those files just need to be "consistent." Editing is much easier than trying to remember commands and options for me. There is no reason the username's HOME must match the username. It is not required, only helps humans. Computers don't care. They always lookup the answer using getent() or getent passwd or getent group

BTW, use the 'id' command to see fully the group membership for any userid.

**Impavidus** · January 1st, 2021

But do make sure that the home directory mentioned in /etc/passwd matches the name of the actual directory. You haven't told us yet what that is.

The only old username left in your /etc/passwd is in the comment field. That shouldn't be much of a problem.

**Tadaen_Sylvermane** · January 1st, 2021

Seems like an awful complicated process. Why didn't you just add a new user with proper groups, chown -R and rename the entire /home /"$USER" dir and move on with life? Are you trying to save the uid / gid?